An equation is balanced when all atoms present among the reactants are also present among the products with equal numbers
Step 1. Write the unbalanced equation. Organize the formula in the pattern of a equation with plus sign and an arrow
Step 2. Adjust the coefficients to get equal number of each kind of atom on both sides of the arrow
Example question :
Sodium hydroxide and phosphoric acid, H3PO4, react as aqueous solutions to give sodium phosphate and water.
The sodium phosphate remains in solution. Write the balanced equation for this reaction.
Answer :
NaOH + H3PO4 → Na3PO4 + H2O : not balanced
If we put the 1 for the coefficient of Na3PO4, means that Na = 3, so in the left reaction we can put 3 for the coefficient of NaOH
3NaOH + H3PO4 → 1Na3PO4 + H2O
then from 1Na3PO4, we also can notice that P = 1, so in the left reaction we can put 1 for the coefficient of H3PO4
3NaOH + 1H3PO4 → 1Na3PO4 + H2O
From the left reaction, we can calculate the total number of O = 3 + 4 = 7, H = 3+3 = 6 so, in the right reaction, we already have 4 O in 1 Na3PO4, then the rest should be 3 in coefficient of H2O
3NaOH + 1H3PO4 → 1Na3PO4 + 3H2O
We can check whether it balanced or not from the total number of H in the right reaction. And, yes it’s correct, H = 6 from 3H2O.